SL to SB: Opinions from Those Who've Switched

[wadesgirl]

Okay, we had our taste testing tonight. For those who've been to Launch, everyone agreed we liked page 6, page 10, and page 22. a fellow consultant did the recipe on page 5 of the catalog, and I did the recipe on page 38 of the catalog. Everyone liked both of those too. My personal favorite was page 10. I could have eaten the whole recipe myself!

Now you have me intrigued! Mine is at home so I'll have to wait to see what you are talking about!

 

[flemings99]

I'm glad I'm not the only one, not impressed, and I always like to do a "new" demo recipe to add to my shows and I may struggle for find one in this.

Me too. Looking forward to my March team mtg. when we'll sample them all together. Hope to change my opinion.

 

[mountainmama74]

Okay, we had our taste testing tonight. For those who've been to Launch, everyone agreed we liked page 6, page 10, and page 22. a fellow consultant did the recipe on page 5 of the catalog, and I did the recipe on page 38 of the catalog. Everyone liked both of those too. My personal favorite was page 10. I could have eaten the whole recipe myself!

LOL my book is at home, so I can't wait to see which recipes you're talking about!

 

[cmcchef]

i am looking forward to seeing the new SB but like some of you have had trouble with the ingredients in the past. Unfortunately I am allergic to latex and because of this I have a cross sensitivity to mangos, bananas and kiwi wish someway for a substitute list for those allergic. Just a thought for many other venues including PC. Does anyone else have trouble finding the smaller oz pkg of cake mixes used in the past. I have occasionally found Jiffy mix any other thoughts

I have found Duncan Hines (I think) mixes that make 12 cupcakes at Dollar Tree and Walmart.

 

[kam]

Yes, it is hard for me to find the small boxes of cake mix. I always have to use 1/2 a large box.

In fact, I have trouble finding quite a few of the ingredients that come with some of the new recipes each season. Probably just my stores stink around here.

I can't find Red Thai curry paste (Lime Chili Meatballs), but I have a jar in the fridge, so I probably got it last time I was near a Wegmans. Couldn't find the Teriyaki glaze either - and I went to 4 differnt stores when that recipe first came out! Though, I did just notice it at my Giant last week.

The only place I can find almond bark or the Jiffy mixes is Walmart. And lately I haven't even seen a good variety of the Jiffy mixes.

Never did find some chocolate wafer cookie things for some holiday recipe.

I could go on and on.

It's just the area I live in. When I go to the Wegmans - I try to stock up on the odd items!

So, I do have to keep the ingredients in mind when offering the recipes to hosts. I certainly don't want them driving from store to store looking for items.

 

[BethCooks4U]

It's funny. Often when new recipes come out there are several things I can't find but within a month or so the stores sudenly have them in stock. Must be lots of consultants requesting those things around here...

 

[winklermom]

Do they have common "normal" ingredients or expensive "weird" ingredients...hope not to much with pineapple of shellfish, as I'm allergic to both and there have been a couple of years where almost entire book I couldn't do or ones that didn't have those as ingredients just weren't good at shows.

This is the very reason that I'm not crazy about it. Maybe I've just been in the South too long, but I'd love to see some recipes that calls for ingredients that I would normally have in my pantry; not things that I've never heard of and can't get in a town the size of ours. That's just my $.02 worth. I need to add that the desserts look interesting. I especially like the ones on pg. 24, 27 & 28 but I'm pretty sure that pg. 26 is a repeat.

 

[Brenda.the.chef]

I do not love the new SB. I think the recipes are all very similar. Not a lot of variety, IMO.

I'm not excited about it either. Very disappointed that some of the same recipes keep appearing in it.

 

[Becca_in_MD]

Okay, we had our taste testing tonight. For those who've been to Launch, everyone agreed we liked page 6, page 10, and page 22. a fellow consultant did the recipe on page 5 of the catalog, and I did the recipe on page 38 of the catalog. Everyone liked both of those too. My personal favorite was page 10. I could have eaten the whole recipe myself!

Glad I finally have my SB to see what you're talking about!

I'm going to try pg. 22 Mexican Chicken Napoleons for dinner tomorrow. Not sure they'd be a good show recipe.

Did the potatoes in the Blue Cheese & Bacon Potato Crisps get crunchy all the way through or just on the edges? Will cheddar be a substitute for people who don't like blue (bleu - that's for Keith if he ever reads this thread) cheese?

 

[leftymac]

Glad I finally have my SB to see what you're talking about!

I'm going to try pg. 22 Mexican Chicken Napoleons for dinner tomorrow. Not sure they'd be a good show recipe.

Did the potatoes in the Blue Cheese & Bacon Potato Crisps get crunchy all the way through or just on the edges? Will cheddar be a substitute for people who don't like blue (bleu - that's for Keith if he ever reads this thread) cheese?

Thanks for the French! That's how I spell it. Guess I'm pretentious.

I would think Cheddar would work, but it might get greasy. Worth a try, though! My guess is the potatoes will be crispy on the edges, but softer in the middle -- kind of like a gratin.

 

[leftymac]

I complained about the repeats too, and my Director reminded me that most people don't collect the SBRCs, so they're not repeats to them. That response satisfied me.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Glad I finally have my SB to see what you're talking about!

I'm going to try pg. 22 Mexican Chicken Napoleons for dinner tomorrow. Not sure they'd be a good show recipe.

Did the potatoes in the Blue Cheese & Bacon Potato Crisps get crunchy all the way through or just on the edges? Will cheddar be a substitute for people who don't like blue (bleu - that's for Keith if he ever reads this thread) cheese?

They were crunchy around the edges and soft in the middle. The consultant on my team who made these said it was almost impossible to do them in the MMP like the instructions stated - she ended up using the regular muffin pan, and then we decided it would be even better to do them on a sheet paand then they'd probably get a bit crunchier too.

We talked too about using a different cheese - possibly a goat cheese or a feta cheese would work well... I don't know, because I LOVED them with the bleu cheese. Yum Yum Yum Yum Yum!

 

[leftymac]

They were crunchy around the edges and soft in the middle. The consultant on my team who made these said it was almost impossible to do them in the MMP like the instructions stated - she ended up using the regular muffin pan, and then we decided it would be even better to do them on a sheet paand then they'd probably get a bit crunchier too.

We talked too about using a different cheese - possibly a goat cheese or a feta cheese would work well... I don't know, because I LOVED them with the bleu cheese. Yum Yum Yum Yum Yum!

I was thinking about them fitting in the MMP while watching the demo. I think you need to get the teeny tiny baby red potatoes that are sold in a plastic carton -- you know, the ones that are like $4 for the carton! The bulk ones just don't seem to be small enough.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I was thinking about them fitting in the MMP while watching the demo. I think you need to get the teeny tiny baby red potatoes that are sold in a plastic carton -- you know, the ones that are like $4 for the carton! The bulk ones just don't seem to be small enough.

That's it exactly! Plus, at many of the smaller stores, you can't find them at all.

 

[Malinda Klein]

Not a fan of this season's Best. I'm more into normal recipes. These are what I've tried so far:Blue Cheese & Bacon Potato Crisps - really yummy, but I agree on not quite fitting the MMP and I (as my hosts would pry do) just bought red potatoes (not in a plastic carton). I am not sold on it being a show recipe because it was alot of repeated levels...I made the Quick Chicken Pad Thai tonight - won't make it again. Although my other half enjoyed it. Tomorrow I"ll be trying the Thai Crab Ragoon Bites...

 

[Becca_in_MD]

Not a fan of this season's Best. I'm more into normal recipes. These are what I've tried so far:

Blue Cheese & Bacon Potato Crisps - really yummy, but I agree on not quite fitting the MMP and I (as my hosts would pry do) just bought red potatoes (not in a plastic carton). I am not sold on it being a show recipe because it was alot of repeated levels...


That is a very good point about show recipes. That's why I end up focusing on a main dish or salad recipe. Having to do 12 layers of something just won't work for my style of show.

 

[Mommy2amo]

I was underwhelmed with the SB. It had a bit of an Asian flair, which is just not my fave kind of food and too many recipes had weird or overly expensive ingrediants.

 

[Amyskitchen2]

I tried some of the recipes last night. I am in love with the BC&BP Crisps but not crazy about the others I tried. Will try the rest this week but really not thrilled with the SB.

 

[BethCooks4U]

Looking over the cookbooks last night I like the SB the best of the 3 but found recipes I definitely want to try in all of them. I thought that there were much fewer repeat recipes in the SB than in some previous seasons.

That's the thing... no one will love it all everyone will love something. That's what keeps the world interesting and why we have so many varying products - we all like different things.

 

[doughmama]

The SBRC has different recipes and maybe we don't have all the ingredients in our pantry, yet it is fun to step out of the box and try new things -even if I have to search a bit for them. Also, we are looking at this as recipes for us to cook at our shows while customers are looking at it as recipes to prepare for their families. Think that if they find a few that they like, they will purchase it. Heck, it's only a $1. Now I'm off to the supermarket to find some of those ingredients!

 

[magentablue]

I was so happy that they focused on more healthy recipes this time. Also, the one recipe I've tried so far, the dim sum, had an ingredient I hate: water chestnuts. I debated leaving them out, but I decided I should follow the recipe at least the first time the way it was written. You know what? I loved them, and so did my husband.I like that about the season's bests. I have some recipes I'll never try as written (I'm deathly allergic to berries, for example) so I will either not make those, or use a different fruit. But mostly, there are recipes that push me to try new things, or put things together that I might not have tried on my own. I am very pleased with this Season's Best!

 

[Jolie_Paradoxe]

I liked our SB...a little taste of everything...a global flair with healthy options. I liked the nutritional blurb on the Table of Contents. I was glad that it went a bit beyond the norm as many of my customers are wanting new ideas and the ability to explore...and for $1, they can buy the cookbook and get their money's worth even if they decide they only like 2 recipes.

I'm looking forward to trying all the apps, the asian cobb salad, the edamame salad, and ALL the desserts! Some of them are repeats that I haven't tried and so they're a great reminder to try again.

As for show recipes...we have a lot to choose from...the catalog, consultant's corner and here. Don't forget we also have 2 new cookbooks to explore for shows, thus increasing an add on of $14.75 rather than $1.

 

[magentablue]

I just tried the edamame salad. Don't let me stop you from trying it, because everyone's tastes certainly differ, but my husband and I hated it. I muscled through my bowl and ate it anyway, but my husband couldn't do it. We're throwing the rest of the pot away, it was that bad (to us). I can't remember the last time we've wasted food. It was also a horrible recipe in all that repetitive motion with the peelers. Even before I tasted the recipe, I told my husband "we'll never have this again!"